Venus Rising From the Waves
Birth of Venus. Sandro Botticelli
Today Venus and Uranus meet — which they do every year, of course — but this time it’s a super-potent rendezvous. They are meeting at the very end of Taurus — 29° — and the following day Venus will skip into Gemini, and on 7 July, Uranus will follow her.
He has not visited Gemini in about 80 years. Between now and November, he’s just checking out the sign, before actually committing to a lengthy stay from next April.
The point is that Venus leads the way. She opens the door. Let’s hope that the goddess of love and social oil, will make Uranus’ arrival in the first air sign smooth and sociable. It’s bound to be a shock: it always is with Uranus.
Interestingly — and tellingly — Venus also leads the way next April, when Uranus re-enters Gemini. I checked back to see what she was doing last time Uranus went into Gemini in 1941, but back then, in the midst of war, she was otherwise engaged.
I hope that the presence of Venus means a surprise peace, but I’m not holding my breath.
A Tale Worth Telling
In the circumstances, it may be worth contemplating the myth of Uranus and Aphrodite (aka Venus).
Uranus was the original sky god; father, with his mother/wife Gaia, of the Titans. Among their children was Cronus (Saturn), Father Time. Gaia really loathed Uranus, because he, jealous of their many children, had crammed them back inside her, and she was always in pain. So she begged her children to deal with him. Only the keeper of time, Cronus, came to her aid.
She gave him an adamantine sickle, a stone weapon. And with this Cronus severed Uranus’ genitals, which flew into the sea.
Here is a longer discussion of this myth and the astrology.
His sperm mingled with seafoam, and from this mixture arose the beautiful goddess of love, Aphrodite. Perhaps the sky god’s sperm seemed like stars falling into the night sea, like phosphorus.
So you see, Venus and Uranus have a special history. He is her father, and sole begetter. The sea itself is not personified in the story. Indeed, it’s possible that she rises just from Uranus’ semen. Unlike most of the other Olympians (planets), who are from younger generations, Venus comes directly from the sky and sea. She is a goddess of older lineage, half-sister to the Titans, a survivor too, because Saturn would in turn be overthrown by his son Zeus (Jupiter).
For subscribers
If you have the time, it is worth going back to our Venus meditation from last month and seeing if you can feel into her encounter, in her own beloved sign Taurus, with her father as they both step into the new airy world of Gemini. It’s on the member’s page or in your June horoscopes email.
I feel so exhausted by the genocidal legislative victory on July 3, I’m second-guessing our dominant associations with Venus being about love and happy sex and fertility. She’s also about order and money and comfort, and having those things get tossed and crushed as if by a toddler in a wading-pool filled with eggs is more like what I’m feeling. (Time for me to look into the traditions where Venus is about war as well as peace, maybe.)
Given the ridiculous pace of how long it takes for legislative spending packages to be actively put into practice, it looks like Uranus will be stepping into Gemini long-term at about the time this comes into play. So, if this is a foretaste of Uranus in Gemini under Venusian influence, then I’ve definitely got some thinking to do.
It’s definitely about money — among other things — but for sure the world’s exchanges will be radically altered.